5 Tips For Colored Hair

While dying your hair and experimenting with color can be a lot of fun, colored hair is also very high maintenance and needs special treatment. Dye can be pretty harsh on hair, causing it to become dry, brittle and prone to breakage so it needs to be treated with special care. Not only that, but going to your hair stylist to have your hair dyed is not exactly cheap so you want your color to last as long as possible.

As someone who dyed her hair for years while in high school, I know how damaged hair can become when you color it so I thought I’d share a few tips on how you can avoid the damage and keep hair in good condition (and the color to last longer). Here are a few tips on how to take care of colored hair:

1. Don’t wash hair too often

Doesn’t really matter what shampoo you use or if you only use water, every time you wash your hair, some of the color will fade away . That’s why, to make sure the color lasts as long as possible, you shouldn’t wash your hair too often. Wait at least one day after you colored your hair to wash it and, whenever you can, opt for dry shampoo or baby powder instead. They will absorb the oil and grease in your hair, making it look clean and pretty without stripping color away.

2. Conditioner is your BFF

Dyes are pretty harsh and can make hair become dry, brittle, straw-like and just unmanageable! To avoid that from happening and keep hair healthy, it’s essential that you apply conditioner to your colored strands every time you wash your hair to replenish the moisture that’s been lost. In addition, and especially if your hair is particularly dry and damaged, it is best to apply a deep conditioning treatment on your locks once or twice a week. This’ll keep hair conditioned, shiny and looking their best.

3. Beware of shampoos targeted for colored-treated hair

I know that this sounds like a weird advice. After all, if you color your hair, everyone will tell you to use shampoos especially formulated for colored-treated hair but trust me (I’ve tried quite a lot in the past), more often than not, these products are just a waste of money. Some shampoos do contain dyes that could, in theory, stuck to your hair and add some color to it, but in practice, these dyes are just rinsed off together with the shampoo and end up down the drain, leaving almost or no color at all on your hair. And often, they also contain harsh surfactants (like SLS and SLES) that will strip color from your hair, not add or enhance it! If you wanna know more you can check out my previous post on shampoos for color-treated hair. But unless you can read labels well and know what ingredients to look for and what should be avoided in shampoo for color-treated hair, then beware cos, truth be told, they’re not that different from regular shampoos.

4. Be gentle when you towel dry and style hair

Colored hair is more prone to damage so it should be treated gently. Don’t vigorously towel dry your hair or you could cause it to break and, for the same reason, use a wide-toothed comb to comb your hair. In addition, as we have seen above, hair dyes can dry hair. So can the heat from styling tools. So, always let hair air dry if you get the chance and use a blow dryer or any other styling tool only for special occasions or when they are absolutely necessary. And if you really have to use them, apply a leave-in conditioner or heat-protective treatment on your hair beforehand as they will help to limit the damage.

5. Cover your hair when you go outside in the sun

Washing your hair is not the only thing that can make your hair color fade. The sun rays will do that too. So, whenever you’re going out on a warm, sunny day, remember to wear a hat or a scarf on your hair to make the color last longer. In addition, this will also prevent the sun from damaging your hair and drying it out.

Comments

Very useful tips! I dye my hair blue-black since I was 19 but my locks always turn to black and/or violet after just one week! Now I know why… I am guilty of washing my hair too often, (ab)use of blow dryer and hair straightener and I use a shampoo for colored-treated hair that contains SLS and SLES!!!

La Bisbetica, a lot of shampoo for color-treated hair contain these surfactants and they still claim they make color last longer when in fact they have the opposite effect! It’s appalling what companies can get away with. Certain ingredients just shouldn’t be included in this kind of products. But I hope these tips have helped you. 🙂

wow I didn’t know about #3 and 5! Thanks for sharing these tips 🙂 If I ever color my hair, I’ll just attempt it with henna again. My hair is pretty healthy, so I don’t want to mess it up with too many chemicals.

Makeup Morsels, you’re welcome. One of the reasons why I stopped dying my hair is because the dye has ruined them a lot. You definitely to give hair a break every now and again lol. Henna would be a nice choice though and it’ll be gentler too. 🙂

Will home remedy hurt my hair in keeping it soft and shiny? By using mayonnaise and beer? I just dyed my hair and I do want it to be a little softer and shinier. If you could please answer these questions I’d be grateful, thank you.
Sincerely,
Brenda

Brenda, the mayonnaise will be hard to rinse out, and the beer won’t leave your hair smelling very nice, but apart from that, there aren’t any side effects. And despite these shortcomings, this mixture will make your hair soft and shiny.